


Weight of the World

by topazastral



Series: Our Love [2]
Category: The Mechanisms (Band), Ulysses Dies at Dawn - The Mechanisms (Album)
Genre: Gen, i tried to go for the feels, just a sweet father and daughter relationship, let me know if it worked, zeus is a bastard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-20 20:14:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30010353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/topazastral/pseuds/topazastral
Summary: Atlas keeps the Acheron running. He gets a message from his daughter.
Relationships: Atlas & Kalypso, Atlas & Zeus, Zeus & Kalypso
Series: Our Love [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2207631
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	Weight of the World

Atlas shuffled over to the nearest bank of servers, back aching something fierce, as always. It flashed blue in an erratic pattern, burning shapes into his retinas. He tapped a weary sequence into the buttons lining the walls of cold metal, sending pulses of electricity through the tanks of grey matter. Before he had a chance to finish his work, his line of computer monitors began to beep. A message.

He let out a deep, rattling sigh, one that began in his bones. The computers lit up in unison, and a voice boomed out from the speakers. _Zeus._

“Boy.” Atlas could _hear_ the smirk in his voice.

“Come to gloat again?” Atlas asked. There was no malice in the question, but simply tired acceptance. He had stopped trying to remind Zeus that he was centuries older during the first year of his work, so long ago.

“Not this time,” Zeus said. “It’s about your daughter. Kalypso.”

Atlas sucked in a sharp breath, trying not to let the surprise show on his weathered face. “She--she’s alive?”

“Oh, very much so,” Zeus said. “In fact, she’s been so useful that I’ve decided to keep her around.”

Atlas’s heart pounded in his chest. The first time in longer than he could remember. _Shit._ If Zeus thought that Kal was _useful_ …

“However, she did insist on one condition. That she be allowed to talk to _you_.”

The smooth steel floor felt like ice under Atlas’s knees as he sank down to the ground, tears beginning to spill down his cheeks. “Kal?” he whispered.

“It’s me, Dad.” A face popped up on the monitor, eyes bright. Her curly hair filled almost the entire frame. It had grown. Of course it had grown. It had been so long. “I missed you.”

“I...missed you too, my darling,” he said. “What--how are you? How are you doing?”

Kalypso smiled, and Atlas could tell she was trying not to cry, rich brown eyes watery. “I’m okay. I really am. I’ve been...working hard.” She glanced over her shoulder, presumably at Zeus. “But...I’ve been changing things! Making a real difference.”

“I’m glad. I always knew you would.” Atlas’s chest _throbbed_ , like someone had reached inside of it and tried to pull out his sternum. He hoped it wasn’t showing on his face.

“I got to work with this guy Odysseus,” Kalypso continued. “He was this crazy war hero--”

“Alright, that’s enough.” The screen became a blinding white once again. “Very touching. Kalypso, I believe you have a job to do?”

“Yeah--yes. Thank you, Zeus. And--and Dad--I love--”

The screens fell dark once more, save for the scrolling lists of data. And Atlas wept for what he had lost. He didn’t have much time until the Acheron called him back to his toil. He never did.


End file.
